Top 10 Stories of the Week #2

October 28, 2014

[smiths] politics sub-editors Alley and Shaun summarise last week’s major news stories in the second instalment of ‘Top 10 Stories of the Week.’ 1. ‘Occupy’ returns to Parliament Square. ‘Occupy’ is a group of pro-democracy, pro-equality environmental demonstrators who began in the US and have crossed the Atlantic to ‘occupy’ parts of the UK. They...

‘Occupy’ is a group of pro-democracy, pro-equality environmental demonstrators who began in the US and have crossed the Atlantic to ‘occupy’ parts of the UK. They returned to london for a peaceful nine-day occupation of Parliament Square with three clear aims: ‘People before profit; environment before profit and democracy before profit.’

On 27th October Meyiwa, captain of the South African football team, was reportedly shot dead by robbers. The South African Police are offering 250,000 rand (£14,000) as a reward for information about the attack.

EU Member states have been informed about adjustments to their contributions to the EU budget. The adjustment takes into account changes in the economic growth of member states and will mean that nine countries have to pay more this year, with the UK forking out the highest bill. David Cameron has deemed the payment ‘unfair’ and has stated the UK will not pay the adjusted budget due this December.

The Scottish Labour leader, Johann Lamont, has resigned this week after claiming that Labour leadership was treating scotland like a ‘branch office’. Scottish Labour have claimed that they will have a new leader in place by 13th December.

Pistorius was given a 5-year sentence with a 3 year suspension, meaning that he could be out of prison and under house arrest for the remainder of his sentence in a matter of months. There has been international uproar at the suggested leniency of the verdict.

The Recall Bill, which intends to give parliament the power to recall MPs for an election while they are serving office, has passed its first stages within parliament. However, the Bill has been criticised by those who believe it isn’t going far enough and the electorate should be given this power rather than parliament, as is the case in many states within the US .

Last Wednesday saw the Canadian parliament victim to a terror attack by extremist Muslim convert, Michael Zehaf-Bibeau. One soldier was shot dead but chaos ensued for fear of further casualties. Zehaf was shot on sight and it was later revealed he was believed to be mentally ill.